Protect Patients - Rein in Private Equity in Health Care

I am your constituent and I want you to know that when private equity purchases a medical facility they use a variety of tactics to bleed out money to pay investors, often risking the health of patients to do it. Ob/gyn facilities close, there are staff cuts, and there is creative restructuring of the facilities so that they have to pay for rent on land, buildings and equipment that they once owned. The chairman’s report from Senator Sanders’ Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee investigation into the Steward Health Bankruptcy. In it you can read how Ralph de la Torre, the CEO, working with private equity executives, became obscenely wealthy by loading up hospitals from Massachusetts to Arizona with billions in debt and selling the land underneath these hospitals to real estate executives who charge unsustainably high rent. Senator Markey and Representative Jayapal have a bill in the Senate and House that can fix this. It makes sure that when a facility is purchased, an escrow account is established so that the facility can stay open and serve in the event of financial setbacks. It also increases oversight and reporting and changes real estate loop holes so it is harder to bleed these facilities dry. Look, 700 medical facilities are in financial trouble in the US according to a new report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. A huge of these are in rural America. I want you to actively support Senator Markey’s and Representative Jayapal’s Health Over Wealth Act and give patients a fighting chance.” Reference: https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/news-with-bipartisan-vote-sanders-leads-help-committee-investigation-into-bankruptcy-of-steward-health-care-and-subpoenas-its-ceo